Using an online voice chat utility, such as Skype or Google Hangouts, improves the playing experience considerably.

2018 GenCon Main Event Prep

Each player brings one 490-point army with no more than 18 figures*. No VC, no Marvel.

During the regular season you will play the army you bring in Round 1 and Round 3. However, Round 2 and Round 4 will be Reverse The Whip -- you play with the army your opponent brought for each round in the playoffs.

During the playoffs this will continue to alternate with ensuring that the Finals game is playing the army you brought, therefore the semi-finals will be Reverse the Whip, quarter-finals will be play what you brought, etc....

*An army can contain more than 18 figures, but only 18 figures may be placed on the battlefield each game. Airborne Elite and Rechets of Bogdan count toward these limits, as usual. Double-spaced figures only count as a single figure. Extra hexes will be provided for players using more than 24 hexes.

The regular season will last four weeks, with one game each week. After the regular season ends there will be a single elimination bracket for the top finishers.

Power glyphs will be placed, power side up, on maps before the game begins.

Dice-off Equalizer - A check before each game to see the dice off win % for the tournament for each player will be made. If a player has a lower Dice off win % than his opponent, he will automatically win the dice off. Should the win % be tied, a dice off will be performed.

Time Controls

If, at the end of any turn, both of the following conditions are met:

One player has taken 20 minutes less game time than their opponent according to the app AND

At least 60 minutes of gameplay time has passed since the timestamp of the first set OMs,

Then the player who has taken less time than their opponent may note the current time gap in the chat window and warn their opponent that they are approaching the timed game finish. After that point, if the time gap between the two players increases by another 10 minutes beyond the noted gap, then the player who has taken less time than their opponent may end the game on time. The game will then go to partial card scoring.

Additionally, if one player has taken 40 minutes less game time than their opponent, the player who has taken less time than their opponent may note the current time gap in the chat window and warn their opponent that they are approaching the slow play forfeit. After that point, if the time gap between the two players increases by another 20 minutes beyond the noted gap, then the player who has taken less time than their opponent may claim a win on time, irrespective of the game situation.
The organizers reserve the right to nullify either of the time controls rules if we find that it is being abused or if we believe the time recorded on the app is incorrect.

Because of the time control rules, it is important to use the app's clocking features correctly.

Always press the "done" button when your turn is complete.

If you decide to move to a position where your opponent has the option of a leaving engagement attack or engagement strike, use the appropriate quick message button to tell them to make that roll.

If you have any out-of-turn movement (scatter, scurry, etc), press "done" when you are done with that movement.

If you decline an out-of-turn action (e.g. you don't want to attempt a leaving engagement attack on Krug, or you don't want to scatter), press "done" to decline the action.

Stalemate Rule

At the end of any round after the fourth round of the game, a player may activate the stalemate countdown by informing their opponent in the chat window. After that call, if three or more consecutive rounds pass where:

There is no attack or attacking power* used against an opponent, and

Each player wins initiative at least once,

Then the game is over and the winner is determined by partial card scoring.

Note: If a wound is healed (and/or a destroyed figure is returned to the battlefield) then the attack or power that inflicted the wound (and/or destroyed the figure) does not count for the purposes of avoiding a stalemate.

* "attacking powers" are defined as any special power on an army card or glyph that inflicts wounds, destroys figures, or takes permanent control of figures.

Scheduling

Once a round is announced, you will have one week to complete your game. Please attempt to schedule a time to play your game with your opponent.

If after 72 hours (3 days) you have not been able to reach your opponent via PM, please fill out the missing opponent report to notify the organizers of the situation.

If you cannot come to an agreement with your opponent on a time to schedule the game during that week, then please fill out the scheduling conflict report.

If a game is not completed on time and the tournament organizers are not notified of an issue, both players will be given a loss.

The tournament organizers reserve the right to manually set the pairings involving players with a history of either failing to schedule their games, or not showing up for scheduled game times. Such players will also not be given the benefit of the doubt should scheduling conflicts arise.

Reporting Game Results (and dropping out)

The winner of the game must use the game result form to report results. (This will be linked once the tournament begins.)

If you do not want to continue in the tournament into the next round, please PM an organizer to let them know.

Etiquette for watching games

Only the tournament referees (awesomeunleashed, Bengi, dok, Dysole, Filthy, Kinseth, Typhon, Xorlof) are authorized to make binding rulings. If no referee is present in a game, ask before offering your opinion.

Refer to this thread for the etiquette rules of the Online Heroscape tournaments.

Disputes

The tournament referees are awesomeunleashed, Bengi, dok, Dysole, Filthy the Clown, Kinseth, Typhon2222, and Xorlof. These players may make rulings on in-game disputes (line of sight, figures fitting on a space, dice rolled too soon/too late, etc) in games where they are not playing. If there is a dispute and one of these players is online, they may issue an on-the-spot ruling. If you have a dispute you cannot resolve, and none of the referees are present, you may stop the game and PM the tournament referees for a ruling.

NOTE: if a ruling is made late in the week and there is not enough time to schedule completion of the game, the tournament referees may issue a forfeit loss to the player who was ruled against.

SPECIAL PAIRINGS NOTE: For this event and this event only, pairing will be done randomly for the first round like normal and then NCAA style by SoS within record tiers (e.g. with 8 players at 1-0, 1st ranked SoS plays 8th ranked, 2nd ranked plays 7th ranked, et al). Strength of Schedule will be an in-event measure only (i.e. the record of your opponents in the event) and not connected to the rankings.